I spent a bit of time the other day figuring out how to dispute a credit charge from within the Citibank online interface. Guess what? It turns out that you can’t. As I noted yesterday, we’ve been having a devil of a time straightening out a botched order from SimplyBunkBeds.com, and I finally ended up disputing the charge to put some pressure on them. I’ve done this before through Chase’s online interface, but when I went looking for the proper link on the Citibank web site, I couldn’t find it. Rather, I ended up having to call it in. And while I was talking to the CSR, I learned that phoning in is the only way to dispute a charge on your Citicard. So if you ever need to dispute a charge with Citibank, don’t waste any time logging in to their website. Rather, whip out your card and start dialing the number on the back.

About the author:Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!

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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

Never file a dispute over the phone. Ok, well you can file it initially over the phone, but always follow up with a letter. In writing is the ONLY way to preserve your rights. Read the fine print on the back of your statement and most will say that while you can call in a dispute, writing is the only way to legally preserve your rights.

Yeha, I should’ve expanded a bit on that… They’re mailing me a followup letter with specific instructions as to any supporting documentation that they might need. I will then gather what they want and send it back in along with a letter describing the trouble.

So I guess it would be more accurate to state that I _initiated_ the dispute over the phone.

I think you should only dispute a charge if it is actually incorrect ie. you didn’t make the purchase, or the amount charged is wrong.

If you have customer service issues (eg. the order is delayed, product delivered isn’t satisfactory) you should take the issue to your local “consumer affairs” department if you can’t get anywhere through negotiation. Claiming that a charge is incorrect when it isn’t is dishonest. (But on a scale of 1-10, it’s a 1).

Having said that, I’m also part of the 40% that sneak my own drinks and snacks into the cinema – which is breaking the rules. I think lots of people who are basically ‘honest’ are more likely to ‘bend the rules’ when we feel being taken advantage of, and thus morally justified.

Ralph: FWIW, both Citibank and I disagree with you on this. When I called and explained the SimplyBunkBeds situation to Citi (item not as described, trouble getting them to take it back), the guy said that disputing the charge was the right thing to do. In this case, selling us pine bunk beds in place of ash bunk beds is prety much the exact same thing as charging us the wrong amount… After all, ash bunk bunds are considerably more expensive that pine bunk bends, so shipping the wrong thing is the equivalent of over-charging us (not to mention sticking us with something that we didn’t want in the first place).

i work for citibank’s billing dispute department and calling in a dispute is NOT the only way to begin the process. if you view your statements online, you’ll notice at the bottom of every statement, there’s a section telling you how to ‘report billing errors’. you can either fill out the dispute form online and mail it in, or write to the customer service address listed to mail payments. but never ever EVER mail it with your payment, or it will not be forwarded to our department and we’ll never know of the dispute. calling in the disputed charge is useful, but it does not preserve your dispute rights. federal regulations state that in any billing dispute, your mastercard or visa issuing bank- whether citi or not- MUST be notified in writing within sixty days of the statement date on which the disputed charge appeared.

Please send this to marketing they might Care ,,
thank you
Michael
Been with Citicard for ten years with no problems up till now!

I bought insurance from Safeco for apox 250.00
Then in around 30 mins later I got a call from a online agent and they found
A progressive policy for around a 100 dollars less,, so I bought it.
Then I called Safeco in aprox 30 mins and cancelled the policy with them,,,
Then I called Citicard and asked if I should stop payment to Safeco
They said yes and I did,,, so it was taken off my balance
They sent me a letter to write out what happened I did sent it back and told them
After I stopped payment I receive a check from Safeco, but since
I stopped payment it was not my money to cash so I sent it back

About a month later I was re-billed by Citicards for the APROX 250
I called and spoke with aprox 7 or 8 people at Citicrad
and was told I have to Pay the bill or else I will be turned over to a credit agency
I said I will not pay for something I didnâ€™t buy,, ( I cancelled the policy)
And at that point cancelled my account with Citicard,,,
They said they might reconsider if I will send them another letter explaining
Everything I said I am traveling and cannot receive mail and you have all the information
Now,, they became hostile and said they will give me bad credit and turn me in if I donâ€™t
Pay them.
I will not pay for something I didnâ€™t Buy,, I cancelled the policy
Is this a way to do business ? Destroying people credit ?

I’m on disability and got into financial trouble. I made a deal with Citibank to let them debit my checking account $300/month @ 3.9%. At the end of the year,without reason, Citibank wanted 30.99% interest. I told them that I couldn’t afford to pay that much, and the kid that I was talking to said that there were no other options. Now Citibank has frozen my bank account and taken my Veterans pension, in direct violation of federal law. They’re in the process of taking my house, but they’re too big to fight. I was a long time customer, but it doesn’t matter to the Gods of Greed

John is absolutely correct. They fail to even acknowledge letters, you can’t trust anything they say over the phone and they refuse to allow you to speak with a supervisor. The one thing they do very well is to put the charge back on your account, without an investigation, and sometimes even charge you interest. DO NOT GET A CITIBANK CARD IF YOU THINK YOU WILL EVER NEED THE PROTECTION OF FEDERAL LAW. Go with American Express. They have their act together.

Citibank will lose your letters too. Then blame you once you call them a month later to find out what is going on and they don’t know. I had been a customer for over 20 years charging $3000.00/mo and they lossed track of my charge dispute and then just sent me the exact same form letters know matter what I wrote them.
AVOID THEM AT ALL COST!

I used citi to purchased an airline ticket to maui on march of 2008. Aloha air filed bankruptcy while we were in vacation, totally left us stranded in the island with no way back. When I called citi bank , they promised not to worry just fill-out the dispute form and send it back and and I am not liable to pay for it just wait for two months because that’s how long federal law requires to take. Every month the bill came. after two months citi bank acts liked they don’t know what they were talking about. They keep billing me with late fees and finance charges. I spoked to so many people in different department after they passed my calls 7-8 different times. I am so tired of citi bank. They are rude and useless and they are ruining peoples credit for nothing. I have the most perfect credit before this and noe they are trying to ruin it but I am not going to pay them. Because I believe they have gotten thier money from the court when they went to aloha bankruptcy and just want money from me too. Beside how can citi not protect me from a merchant like this. we were stocked in th island for extra 3 days (supposed to be two weeks) when no airline can bus us back to the mainland. Also other airline were gauging prices. at that time citi bank said I’m not the only one not to worry. I don’t have to pay now citi don’t care and didnot stand for what they said.I have the name and employee number of the person I talked to. It doesn’t matter to them. Reading all the consumer complaints about this bank why are we bailing them out with our tax dollars. Citi bank needs to go. I tried to take to small claims court , the court can’t even find thier servicing agent. We the poeple need to do something about this bank.I cutted my card out and would never do any bussiness with this bank. I work in the restaurant and if I see people have citi card I tell my nighmare hopefully enough that would drive them out of bussiness.Why is our government not doing something aboit this bank? They are ruining a lot of peoples credit. Please let me know if we have to rally Against this bank I will and my friends and neighbors who were also a victim of citi bank.

the previous note says that you have a rep name and id number i have some friends that work in the billing disputes department at citi and it is a very small department only about 100 people if i had there name and id number i may be able to get some info on who that person is

Hello. This is for the Citi rep who knows people in the billing department. I have read elsewhere that someone was provided a nonworking fax number to send in additional information about a pending dispute. I was also given a fax number that “did not answer.” Just wondering if they are just too busy or if this is a way to make consumers give up? The Citi Dispute Billing Dept. provided this fax # 866-799-4758.

Hello. This is for “OMG” the poster who knows people in Citi’s billing department. I have read elsewhere that someone was provided a nonworking fax number to send in additional information about a pending dispute. I was also given a fax number that “did not answer.” Just wondering if they are just too busy or if this is a way to make consumers give up? The Citi Dispute Billing Dept. provided this fax # 866-799-4758.

I do not know where that number came from however the number to fax documents to is 605 357 2028 this number is non working on the weekends i will have to check into the number that was given to you it may be an older fax number to another department or maybe customer service or you can write to po box 6013 sioux falls sd 57117 there is another number in jacksonville if the one i gave you does not work

@OMG
. I called in a dispute,
they sent a paper follow-up,
but it didn’t include anything labelled any case id number;
you are referring maybe to the acct number .
. the tone of the letter was like the case was closed .

the number i am talking about is a long number at the bottom of the letter there should be a long line of letters and numbers and goes something like this d-75241879010209 i am not sure how many numbers it has but it always starts with the letter d if you cannot find it call ask for the billing dispute department and they can tell you what the case id is

Look just so every one is clear your card is not a method of protection its a means of payment not insurance for your mistakes your just looking to point the finger at someone else cause you can own uo to your.onm problems so quit your whining!!!!!!!!!!! You think your above the merchant because you have plastic lol you slow learners just pray

you can dispute a charge online you have to wait till the charge posts to the account and your statement cycles after the statement cycles a link will appear i have been able to dispute charges online before however it is better to call someties that can acctually speed up the process depending on what you are disputing the charge for

Does anyone know how to dispute charges online? The whole mailing / faxing in disputed charges has not worked for me. They do not receive my letters! They never know anything that is going on about my account when I call. I always make more than the minimum payment, on time.

I’m not sure what else I can do, I have faxed and faxed and mailed (over 4 times!) yet their fraud department is not getting what I am sending. It is really discouraging, I don’t have the money to pay for someone elses charges to my account. (when the card has been in my possession the whole time) I made no mistakes… why am I the victim?

If you are considering getting a citi card… please don’t. It has been the biggest weight on my shoulders.
Please, what can we as consumers do to stop this!? Merchants don’t care, citi doesn’t listen, our government gives them money….. who/what else is there?

Yes i actually just submitted my dispute form online a couple of weeks ago. If you go to look at the account activity where all of the charges are present, click on the “+” by the charge and there should be a link for disputing the charge. This link sends you to the e-form. They actually responded pretty quickly with looking into it in about a week.

We refinanced our home and our bank sent a check certified mail to citi to pay the balance due that the most recent statement showed. I wasn’t sure how long it would take them to get it so I emailed customer service to let them know we were sending the payoff. They replied telling me that they couldn’t stop fees, etc. beforehand, but I should wait until they applied payment and contact them again and they would credit any fees that might occur. They posted the payment one day after the due date, added a lated fee and finance/interest charges on the entire original balance. And because we were closing the account and paying it off, the online account will no longer allow me to correspond, so it said to fax disputes. I did that, and have gotten no reply. I don’t like telephone solutions either because I have been there and done that, no proof or guarantees. Any suggestions on how else to take care of this?

Michelle, if you are really wanting the fees credited at this point the only thing that you can really do is speak to someone keep in mind that all the calls are recorded so there is so form of documentation i would not speak to the rep who answers the phone but perhaps to a customer service manager if you do not have a history of making late payments to the acct they will be able to credit your late fee and ask them to send you a letter

Pl.stop the payment of our stay in UMM ALQURA MAKARIM HOTEL in Macca Saudi Arabia untill it will be settle down by the Hotel Management or Booking.Com.because its disputed.
Total payment is $689.98
I have already inform to my citi master card by Phone
Thanks
Abdul Rehman

We were given the same number, 866 799 4758, by the billing dispute department on February 10. If this number has been circulating since 2009, someone on the Citi side needs to update their information.

I have been unable to talk to anyone on the phone. I received a e-mail today July 5th telling me the DISPUTE over the $94.74 had been settled in your favor. When I received the letter with information why the charge had been reversed, I immediately challenged the lies and misinformation used in the decision. On June 13th I received a letter from the customer Service team instructing me to send further information to them by July 6th.(tomorrow).
About June 20th I sent the required information that they required and it still is on my bill. I am still disputing the charge as it was returned to the company ACCORDING TO THEIR INFORMATION, FOR A FULL REFUND ON MARCH 14 TO P.O. BOX 41541 ST, PETERSBURG, FL. 33743. I RETURNED IT IN SAME PACKAGING AND UNOPENED. In April I phoned the company (844-672-4228) and they assured me a refund had been made. So I no longer kept the post office receipt.

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